It's A Small World
by missy52061
Summary: From a prompt on CastleFanFic prompts: Disneyland AU: My kid was lost and you found them AU Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, I just wish I did.


castlefanficprompts:

Disneyland AU: My kid was lost and you found them AU

 **A/N: Since I know Disney World much better, I decided they were there. And I made Alexis younger in my story then she is on the show.**

Kate Beckett knew most of her friends thought she was nuts for doing this vacation - a solo trip to Walt Disney World – but she loved WDW. At home, on her job, she had to be badass cop Kate Beckett, but here she could escape the sadness and hardness of her real life. Here she could be that little girl who came here on a few vacations with her parents, riding all the rides, seeing the shows, eating so-so theme park hamburgers and hot dogs, meeting princesses and princes and just having tons of fun.

But this was her last day at WDW, and she was in her favorite park: The Magic Kingdom. She'd started the day with a character breakfast at the Crystal Palace and then she rode all the rides in Fantasyland, even "It's A Small World". She loved that ride, even if the damn song got stuck in her brain. And she always had to browse in the stores; she loved wearing a Mickey Mouse tee shirt in her down time.

She was browsing through the racks of tee shirts when she first heard the sniffle. Her cop instincts on high alert, she looked around and saw the pretty little red head who appeared to be four years old. She was wearing a cute Minnie Mouse dress and was standing there all alone. Kate decided to watch her for a minute or two – maybe she'd just been separated and mom or dad would find her. But soon the sniffles turned to tears so Kate walked over to the little girl.

"Hey, did you lose your mommy or daddy?" Kate asked her quietly. The girl turned her head to look at Kate but she didn't give anything away.

"I'm not 'posed to talk to strangers," she answered. Kate nodded, but her cop training kicked in.

"That's right, you shouldn't talk to strangers. So how about I introduce myself? My name is Kate, I live in New York City and I'm a cop. Are you allowed to talk to cops?" The red head nodded slowly.

"Okay, since you're a cop, I'm Alexis. I lost my daddy," she answered.

"Let's go find a cast member. They can help us find your daddy, okay?" Alexis nodded again. "Do you know Daddy's name, Alexis?" Kate asked her.

"Yes, his name is Richard Castle," Alexis said. Kate nearly squealed in excitement. He was her favorite author. His picture was in the paper, but he kept Alexis out of the limelight, so that's why Kate didn't recognize her. But the most important thing right now was reuniting father and daughter, so Kate took Alexis by the hand and walked over to a cast member working in the store.

Kate was impressed by how quickly the cast member put things in motion. Kate knew Alexis was safe now, and turned to leave, when Alexis tugged on her hand. "Miss Kate, please don't leave!" Kate couldn't leave her now, so she nodded her head and stayed next to Alexis. She wiped her tears with a tissue provided by another cast member, and continued to talk quietly to Alexis. The little girl smiled when she was presented with a Minnie Mouse doll, and she showed it to Kate.

Within ten minutes, father and daughter were reunited. Rick Castle came running into the store, spotted Alexis and gathered her in his arms. "Oh Alexis, I thought I'd lost you! I'm so glad you're okay!" Kate could see he had tears in his eyes, too. Once again, she turned to leave, and again Alexis tugged on her hand.

"Daddy, this is Miss Kate. She's a cop in New York City, and she found me and helped me," Alexis said very seriously. Rick turned to Kate and went to shaker her hand. Kate felt her knees go weak – all his pictures did not do him justice. He was very handsome, and his eyes were very blue, and right now, those eyes were twinkling at her.

"Thank you, Miss Kate for helping Alexis," he said. "Rick Castle, Alexis's dad. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Beckett. Kate. I mean, I'm Kate Beckett. It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Castle. You should be very proud of Alexis. She was smart and careful and brave," Kate knew she was babbling, but she couldn't help it. Rick Castle shook her hand! He was looking at her! Oh my goodness, she was turning into a fan girl.

"Rick, please call me Rick. So you're a cop in New York City, huh? Well, thank you again for taking care of Alexis. I turned around for a minute, and she was gone. I'm not letting her out of my sight for the rest of this vacation," he said with a chuckle.

"Daddy, can Miss Kate stay with us for the rest of our vacation? Then I wouldn't lose you again!" Alexis said.

"Well, Miss Kate may be here with her family or her friends, Pumpkin. So she may not want to hang out with us," Rick told Alexis, who turned to Kate with a puppy dog face.

Kate answered quickly, "No family or friends with me – I'm here by myself. This is my last day here, but I'd love to spend it with you," she said with a big smile. Alexis clapped, and Rick grinned.

"This is our last day, too. So we'll have a fun day together!" he said. And they did – they rode as many rides as they could, enjoyed the 3:00 parade (which was indeed at 3:00), and ate a fun lunch of hot dogs at Casey's Corner. Kate and Alexis got autographs of as many princesses as they could, while they made Rick kiss the princess on the cheek. Kate took pictures of Rick and Alexis and they took pictures of her. At some point, she started calling him Rick and he started calling her Kate.

When it was time for dinner, Rick led them to Cinderella's Castle. Kate put on the brakes. "Wait a minute! Did you manage to get a reservation for Cinderella's Royal Table?" Rick grinned at her and nodded.

"Yeah, my travel agent managed to get it for us. And since my mother was going to come with us, the reservation's for three, so come on, Kate. It'll be fun!" Rick looked almost as excited as Alexis did. Kate had always wanted to eat there, but could never manage to snag a reservation. Rick took Alexis by the hand, and Alexis took Kate by the hand. Dinner with the Castles near a castle was fun, and Kate totally enjoyed herself. And when she went to grab the check to figure out her share, Rick wouldn't let her. "My treat to thank you for finding my kid when she lost me," he grinned.

They walked out of the Castle and decided to find a nice spot for the fireworks. The three of them ohh'd and ahh'd over the display. By the time the last firework exploded, Alexis was fading. "I'll wait for the crowd to thin out and then we'll leave – we're staying at the Poly so it's just a monorail ride away." Rick told her. Kate grinned and told him she had decided to splurge and was staying at the Poly as well. So they sat on a bench, and talked about all sorts of stuff while Alexis slept. Rick turned to Kate and said, "I'd like to see you again when we get back to New York. Would that be okay?"

Kate looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, that would be okay." She was proud of how calm her voice was, because inside she was doing cartwheels. A dinner with Richard Castle!

And almost as soon as she walked inside her apartment, he called and asked her to dinner. Somehow, the magic of that day in the Magic Kingdom carried over to their dates in New York. He knew he was in love with her after that day at Walt Disney World, but it took her a little longer – she knew it after their first date in New York. He encouraged her to become a detective, and he was so proud of her when she became the youngest female detective in New York City. She inspired him to write a new series of novels with a badass female detective. She was so proud of him when they became best sellers.

And a trip to Walt Disney World became an annual trip. Rick proposed to Kate on one such trip, they took a post wedding trip there with Alexis, and of course, all of their kids loved it too. And all of the kids knew the story of how their parents met at Walt Disney World when their dad got "lost"!

 **A/N #2: I found this prompt last summer on CastleFanFicPrompts on Tumblr, and started to write it. I never finished it, but when I saw the pictures of Stana Katic in the Mickey Mouse shirt and came back to it and finished it.**


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